In Which Makoto Is Worried And Rei Is Flustered
by MikadoTheAirConditioner
Summary: After their training camp, Makoto is worried that Rei is working himself too hard. Him, being the caring boyfriend that he is, simply can't allow his butterfly to do that.


Author's note: Hello everyone! MikadoTheAirCondintioner here with my first Free! fanfiction. I just finished the first season and I ship MakoRei so much! Review if you like!

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in this story.

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Makoto watched as Rei practiced his butterfly stroke in the pool. Although practiced had already ended his boyfriend had convinced Gou to let them stay after for another half hour so Rei could work on his swimming more.

Makoto was a bit worried about his blue-haired butterfly. They had only started dating a little while ago, after they had come back from training camp, but Makoto still cared deeply about Rei, and he knew that the other felt the same way. Since the training camp fiasco with Rei nearly drowning Makoto made sure to keep a close eye on the other boy, partly for Rei's own protection, but also for Makoto's peace of mind.

Ever since he began observing his boyfriend more closely, he noticed that the boy was pushing himself a lot more lately. Which was a good thing, but this was the third night in a row that Rei had asked to stay after practice. Plus, when he went home he always made sure to get his homework done and he spent a good hour on studying, whether it would be for a test he had, or just to make sure he always understood the material.

Rei was a perfectionist. He always got A's in school, anything less than that was unacceptable. His clothes were always clean and his handwriting was flawless. Every aspect of his life was neat and perfect, except his swimming. His form was beautiful but it still needed a bit of work, and Rei was prepared to work until he dropped in order to achieve his idea of perfection. But Makoto was worried that in his rush to make sure everything in his life was perfect, his boyfriend was neglecting himself. Like sometimes he couldn't find time to eat dinner in between working on his butterfly stroke and working on his schoolwork. And Rei always made sure to get up at the same time each morning, no matter what time he went to bed the night before, and even though he had enough time in the morning, he refused to hit his snooze button even once. Sometimes Rei would come to school with dark circles around his eyes, and whenever Makoto showed tried to worry over him, he just brushed it off.

But Makoto couldn't help but worry over his boyfriend. It was in his nature to worry about people he cared about. Heck, last time Haru had gotten a sick he had to practically order Makoto to go back to school instead of just nursing the dolphin back to health. Nagisa liked to joke that if they were a family then Makoto would be the mother. When further questioned he said that Haru and Rin would be the squabbling siblings, Nagisa would be the adorable baby of the family, Gou would be the father, Couch Sasabe would be the grandfather, and Rei would be the responsible middle child. Nagisa had continued to give the family analogy of their team for a while, but he stopped after Makoto and Rei started dating, much to the relief of the team.

The point was, Rei was working himself too hard and Makoto was going to do something about it. He just didn't know what yet. While he was trying to come up with ways to convince his perfectionist of a boyfriend to stop working himself so hard, he was broken out of his thoughts by Rei getting out of the pool. His gaze was immediately drawn to the dripping wet torso of his boyfriend. He blushed at his thoughts before handing Rei his glasses. He had worked a bit with Rei for a while in the pool before getting out and putting on his clothes. Rei had insisted that Makoto hadn't needed to wait for him, but he had insisted on staying until his boyfriend was done.

Rei toweled off his hair and took his glasses with a smile sent towards the orca. "Thank you, Makoto-senpai," he said quietly. Makoto smiled at him, then responded, "You're welcome, Rei. And are you ever going to stop calling me 'senpai'?" he teased. "We are dating after all."

Rei blushed as they walked to the locker room. "Well, you are still my senpai," he muttered. Makoto chuckled at that and waited outside the locker room while the butterfly went in to change. Being in an empty locker room late at night while his boyfriend was changing...he blushed again before cutting off his train of thought. What he really needed to think about was how he was going to convince Rei to stop pushing himself so hard.

Rei came out of the locker room and they started walking. As they walked down the street Makoto tried to think of a way to start the conversation. Usually whenever they walked together they had no problem doing it in a comfortable silence, but right now they needed to have this conversation.

"Your swimming has been getting a lot better," he said. "Your form is beautiful and you're really getting better with your speed." Rei gave a smile at that. He liked it when people praised him, though he got embarrassed if people gave him a lot of compliments at one time.

"Thank you, Makoto-senpai," he said. "I've been working extremely hard on it and I've almost got it perfect. My dive needs work though, it's usually about thirteen degrees off, and when I bring my arms up while I'm swimming I need to pull them in tighter so they don't reach out so much."

Makoto hummed in agreement as they walked. As Rei continued to talk about the mechanics of his swimming and what else he needed to do to get better, Makoto drifted closer and closer until they were walking shoulder to shoulder, then when he was close enough he took Rei's hand in his own.

Rei stopped talking and looked over at Makoto, who just smiled at him, then at their intertwined hands. His face turned red but he didn't pull his hand away. Makoto smiled at how cute his boyfriend was. They got to the train station, and as they were waiting for the train Makoto finally dared to broach the subject that had been on his mind all night.

"Rei," he started, "I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Rei stiffened in surprise and looked at him, an expression of nervous apprehension on his face. "It's nothing bad," Makoto assured him. "I was just thinking that lately you've really been pushing yourself."

"Of course," Rei responded. "I always push myself so I can do my best."

"I know you do, and that's a really great quality that you have. But I'm just worried that you'll push yourself too much. I know that you can handle a lot, but it's just that you can take a break sometimes, you know?"

Rei looked surprised at the concern. "Well, I suppose a break once in a while wouldn't hurt. I just don't want to fall behind in anything. And," he added with an ashamed look aimed at the ground. "I'm afraid that I won't be good enough for the team. I don't want to hold you guys back."

Makoto was quick to reassure his butterfly. "You're not holding anyone back, Rei! It's only your first year, you'll get better with time. We just want to make sure you're having fun and improving in time. I just want to make sure you're taking care of yourself. I care about you, Rei, you know that right?"

Rei nodded. As the train pulled up Makoto pulled him into a hug. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye, Makoto," Rei ignored the pleased look on his boyfriend's face when he left off the honorific. After a quick glance around to make sure no one was looking at them he gave Makoto a quick kiss on the cheek before running off and boarding the train. He left his stunned boyfriend on the platform, and he tried to ignore the blazing heat in his face. He looked out the window of the train as it left just in time to see Makoto waving goodbye to him with the biggest smile on his face and a happy blush gracing his cheeks. Rei smiled and looked down at his phone when he felt it vibrate. It was a text from Makoto.

_See you tomorrow, my beautiful butterfly. _


End file.
